Hunter Thompson, the infamous writer who founded “gonzo” journalism and died in 2005, was a complicated amalgam of brilliance and depravity.
The importance of looking at this now is that we know more of the secrets he coveted. We know Thompson was deeply entangled with the dark side of power. Although he represented a fierce pen against fascism and dirty politics, as well as piercing the sleepwalking consciousness of Americans with the truth about our government, he was a man of two faces. A man who could devilishly walk among depravity with his shoes off, while he exposed with his pen the worst of who we were.
Upon reflection, it’s astounding how much he actually exposed about his nefarious connections, but so much has been forgotten with time. The waves of social media memes that seem to marry his legacy with something altogether above reproach are evidence that who he really was is lost to us. Despite his brilliance, he had an uncivilized, murky underbelly.
As he grew older, he often dropped breadcrumbs of facts that would not have been known if it weren’t for his nefarious connections. Officially, they are rabbit holes of torture and abuse of others, and as it stands, for the victims, it’s important to expose them.
It was the details of his death that sparked most of the questions. The story has some holes.
The official story states that Thompson passed away on February 20, 2005, at 5:42 p.m. at his self-described “fortified compound,” known as “Owl Farm,” in Woody Creek, Colorado, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, as he sat in his room by himself.
When Thompson passed away, his son Juan, daughter-in-law Jennifer Winkel-Thompson, and grandson Will Thompson were in town for the weekend. When the gunshot was heard, Will and Jennifer were in the adjacent room. They claimed that all they heard was a book drop…not a gunshot.
He apparently had a solid relationship with his attractive young wife, Anita. After his drug-crazed youth, his lifestyle had changed significantly, and a peaceful union was possible.
Anita remarked to a newspaper when interviewed, “I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down, and he did it. I heard the clicking of the gun.” She heard a loud noise that was muffled but was unsure of what had transpired. She told the publication, “I was waiting for him to pick up the phone.”
It’s important to note that the 67-year-old prophet was relatively weak and hearing impaired at this point.
The final word he typed was “counselor,” so it was assumed he was forming an article or writing a book, which would not fit the scenario of someone who was planning to kill himself.
The infinite question is who could have done this, if indeed, the suicide story doesn’t add up?
His professional political musings were his chance to pick off all the fat cats in Washington DC he loathed, which certainly made him a target.
The Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Paul William Roberts wrote, “Hunter telephoned me on Feb. 19, the night before his death. He sounded scared. It wasn’t always easy to understand what he said, particularly over the phone, he mumbled, yet when there was something he really wanted you to understand, you did. He’d been working on a story about the World Trade Center attacks and had stumbled across what he felt was hard evidence showing the towers had been brought down not by the airplanes that flew into them but by explosive charges set off in their foundations. Now he thought someone was out to stop him publishing it. ‘They’re gonna make it look like suicide,’ he said. ‘I know how these bastards think.’”
Thompson had clarity when he looked at the horrendous 9/11 story. It turned out to be a real tipping point for him professionally. Two years later, he observed, President Bush had “taken the country, in two years, from a prosperous nation at peace to a broken nation at war,” he wrote. “You could not take this case (accusing Bin Laden of 9/11) to court and win.”
But given his writing style, his essay about it all was a political hit piece that focused solely on Bush and Cheney. The writer, who was known for criticizing establishment politics, would not have been killed for this reason alone.
Along with 9/11, he was working on the Jeff Gannon scandal involving the White House reporter, which was connected to the Larry King-Franklin call-boy ring. The thing to remember is that Thompson had been intimately involved, so he would have known. The 1994 film “Conspiracy of Silence” will educate individuals who are unaware of this.
Paul Bonacci testified in court that he participated in the kidnapping of Johnny Gosch in 1982 and that he was made to take part in an orgy at Bohemian Grove in July 1984, where a child was killed. Bonacci said that Hunter Thompson, who had boarded their private jet flight to the West Coast in Las Vegas, had captured the murder on film. Thompson was thought to be a loose end that was dealt with, according to Rusty Nelson, who was present during the Franklin operation.
The documentary “Conspiracy of Silence” does not come up on a search of YouTube. I found it by linking it through another website.
In Thompson’s final book, “Hey Rube,” under the heading “The New Dumb,” was on page 3 and stated the following: “The autumn months are never a calm time in America. … There is always a rash of kidnappings and abductions of school children in the football months. Preteens of both sexes are traditionally seized and grabbed off the streets by gangs of organized perverts who traditionally give them as Christmas gifts to each other to be personal sex slaves and playthings.”
Paul Bonacci, one of many juvenile victims, claimed that he and another kid were forced to perform sex acts with and swallow pieces of a child whose murder they had witnessed by men in hooded robes, according to John DeCamp’s recounting of events in The Franklin Cover Up on pages 326 and 328 of his book. “The men with the hoods” were supposed to dispose of the body.
According to DeCamp, Bonacci also asserted that these incidents were the subject of a “snuff film.” The shocking element is that Bonacci named “Hunter Thompson” as the party guest who had picked him up in Las Vegas and had filmed the proceedings.
Thompson has a violent history. He was once charged with sexual assault, drug possession, and possession of a weapon in 1990; these allegations were eventually dismissed. On his property in 2003, he allegedly shot at a bear by accident and injured his helper and neighbor. He shot up the home of a neighbor with whom he was at odds in 1985. He was continuously shooting, aiming, and wounding (potentially killing) others.
Nikole Brown, Thompson’s secretary, said that he evicted her from the home for refusing to view a snuff movie. She claimed that he played a tape recording of a jack rabbit crying in a trap for weeks at a time. He was violent toward animals and pets and enjoyed speeding, barely avoiding cows on country roads close to his house.
Russell Nelson, a photojournalist, claimed he received a $100,000 offer from Thompson to make a snuff movie.
On the “Letterman Show,” Thompson confesses sheepishly at minute 0:50 that he enjoys killing, amid the dumbfounded amusement of individuals watching from their beds at midnight.
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” a book by Thompson, exhibits his sociopathic side. His writings tend to be sadistic towards women.
He shook his head, struggling to focus on the question. “Shit,” he said finally. “I met her on the plane and I had all that acid.” He shrugged. “You know, those little blue barrels. Jesus, she’s a religious freak. She’s running away from home for something like the fifth time in six months. It’s terrible. I gave her that cap before I realized … shit, she’s never even had a drink!”
“Well,” I said, “it’ll probably work out. We can keep her loaded and peddle her ass at the drug convention.” He stared at me.
“She’s perfect for this gig,” I said. “These cops will go fifty bucks a head to beat her into submission and then gang-fuck her. We can set her up in one of these back-street motels, hang pictures of Jesus all over the room, then turn these pigs loose on her … Hell, she’s strong; she’ll hold her own.”
“We coaxed Lucy down to the car, telling her that we thought it was about time to “go meet Barbra.” We had no trouble convincing her that she should take all her artwork, but she couldn’t understand why my attorney wanted to bring her suitcase along.
“I don’t want to embarrass her,” she protested. “She’ll think I’m trying to move in with her, or something.”
“No she won’t,” I said quickly … but that was all I could think of to say. I felt like Martin Bormann. What would happen to this poor wretch when we cut her loose? Jail? White slavery?
Hunter Thompson wrote: “The Edge… there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”
It looks like he went over like a runaway train.
These facts I’ve pulled together actually prove nothing and do not change his contributions and brilliance.
However, it’s wise to remember that there are often dark corners in genius, and hero worship for those who embrace fame is always foolish.